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01.19.12: Signs and Portents When last we left our heroes they had narrowly avoided a goblin swarm. Thanks to quick thinking on the part of the party the bulk of the goblin swarm fell into their own trap that our heroes had booby trapped against the beasts. With the way back clogged with goblin legions, the only way to go was forward. Our heroes continued down the dark underground tunnels, noting the freshly formed mortar and bricks. The goblins had been busy in their efforts to redirect the local tunnels to one source. As the party rounded the next corner, they saw what they were being led to. Before them was a massive chamber of stone, rock, and garbage. Metal from assorted armors and poorly crafted worthless weapons formed pillars that stretched a hundred feet high. Hanging from the ceiling, suspended by fading leather straps and poorly crafted wire, was the primary light source of the chamber: a ten foot wide, ten foot long white crystal. Light channeled down from the surface was hitting this crystal and illuminating everything in the room for all to see. In that fading light of day echoed through the crystal, our heroes eyes fell on the goblins. Nearly a hundred goblins scampered this way and that in the room. Some had swords, others bows. They lined the walls trying to hide from view or under some of the great tables that filled the middle of the room. And they were all waiting. At the far end of the chamber, high upon a ghetto throne, sat the goblin king with his fancy hat of warped copper and poorly cut gems. On either side of him was his honor guard of five goblins astride dire bobcats. Glathkin, %n, and Lyra faded into the shadows, drifting to various places in the room relatively unseen. It was Ebiwen though who brazenly stepped forward in to the light, his pants unnaturally memorable, his bare shirt chest more unnaturally memorable. Behind the halfling stepped Varius the elven magus, Svana the half-elf Fenris monk, and Xain, the human sorcerer. To any mortal eyes these champions were cast in a fel light and their machinations were terrible to behold. "That is far enough!" the goblin king screeched at our heroes. "By what right do you invade our new home and slay our good people?" "They were evil!" Ebiwen offered back in defiance, weapon drawn. "And evil must be punished." "Says the invader to the invaded. You even brought one of those Fenris welps with you!" the king retaliated, pointed with an angry finger at Svana. "With a snap of my fingers I could have you all slain! I will be merciful and give you one chance to walk out of here alive. Give me your awakened steel!" To this the party exchanged a series of odd side glances and muddled words. None of them had even heard of awakened steel before that day. One of the goblins they had been interrogating had hinted at this ancient and powerful material that Caire Fenris was forging into their weapons. There was even suspicion that this material was the reason for the current invasion of goblins in the area. "What makes you think we have any?" Varius spoke up, hand never leaving his sword hilt. "You have a wolf pup with you! They always have the steel." Again the goblin king pointed at Svana with vile intent. '' "Is this what you are after?" Ebiwen offered, brandishing a frying pan. The Goblin king glared at the offering and then snapped his fingers. "Table-headed servant Bob! Go fetch that weapon." ''From the shadows beneath the throne came one of the shortest goblins the party had ever seen, his head flat like a table. He scampered up to the group and took the frying pan. It was a struggle for the tiny creature to carry as it weighed more than he did. With an effort he scampered back up the throne with the frying pan and offered it to his king. The Goblin King examined the pan carefully. He sniffed it. Licked it. Stared at it. Finally he handed it back to his servant, turned to our heroes with a smile and shouted: "Kill them!" Our heroes responded with destruction. As tables flipped over revealing more goblin skirmishers poured out of hiding places, the party moved in to action. Two goblins along the wall fell dead, gnomish knives in their backs. Another was torn asunder by the tiger Serafina emerging from the shadows. A dark shape of a half-elven druid scampered up one of the columns to get a better vantage point of the room. Most of this went unnoticed however, as all goblin eyes were locked on Svana as she flew across the room at a speed that would defy human movement. Nimbly she scaled the steps leading to the goblin throne and was almost to the king when a fierce beam of searing light shot forth from his rod. The beam narrowly missed Svana but burned the ground around her. In a booming voice, Ebiwen uttered a word of command, and by his order, nearly fifty goblins armed with short swords charged him. The halfling stood his ground, weapons ready. As the first goblin raised his weapon for the swing, Xain stepped forward and unleashed fire from his burning hands. Magic flame engulfed the first wave of goblins. The creatures screamed in agony as fires ate at their flesh. Battle was joined. Varius drew his family blade and unleashed its fury on the goblins. Ebiwen called upon the power of his god and issued calming or commanding abilities such that the attacking army was completely disoriented. Glathkin moved through the shadows dispatching archers where he could.%n drifted through the same shadows working his way toward the exit. Xain conjured fierce magics from his hands igniting wave after wave of the slathering creatures. Svana reached for the king only to be foiled by illusionary distortion fields. She tried again but caught one of the searing beams of light in the arm. The pain was intense but she continued to grapple with the king, dodging this way and that to avoid the attacks from the honor guard and table-headed servant Bob who was trying very hard to swing the frying pan around. It was around then that Lyra noticed some shadows moving along the crystal that lit the room. There was someone on the crystal, cutting the various leather straps and wires. "Watch out, someone is trying to cut the crystal down," she shouted to her party. It was mostly the goblins however that stopped what they were doing and looked up. Svana, furious at the burns and abrasions she had suffered, finally grabbed hold of the goblin king and yanked him off his throne by his throat. "Tell them to drop their weapons!" she commanded, giving the creature's throat a tight squeeze for good measure. "Do as she says!" the goblin king squeaked as best he could with his jugular being crushed. Most of the goblins dropped their weapons, but many more darted this way and that making for the exit. So it was that most of them were in the middle of the room when the crystal came crashing down. The three ton gem slammed into the ground sending goblins flying this way and that. Screams of terror and agony cried out from the retreating creatures and then was suddenly silenced. It was the figure riding the crystal down to the ground that grabbed our heroes' attention. Nearly seven feet tall and all muscle, the barbarian was clad in silver and steel armor with wolf hide trim and sigils of Fenris everywhere a wolf head would fit. His weapon was a two handed maul that was nearly five feet long itself and had a head of silver, steel, and runes of arcane enchantment. It took Svana less than a second to remember the star warrior of her generation. Bruto. Never known for his intelligence, this was the weapon that Caire Fenris sends when they want to keep casualties purely on the enemy side. "Well what have we here?" Bruto exclaimed as the dust began to clear and he took in the scene. His eyes fell first on the goblin king, and then on Svana holding him there. "I haven't seen you in a while." "What are you doing here Bruto?" Svana asked in a very disdainful voice. At this point the rest of the party was starting to step out from their various attack points. The goblins were scattered and retreating, the threat was gone. %n and Lyra worked to relieve the throne of its wealth. Xain and Varius examined the giant crystal and tried to calculate how difficult it would be to get the gem out of the cave. Before long Xain just started to memorize his location and put an arcane mark on the gem. Ebiwen, %n, and Svana all gathered around Bruto and discussed his presence there. Apparently the barbarian had accepted a dare to single handedly take out the goblin king. The wager was for 5 gold and, more importantly, bragging rights. After some arguments it was agreed that the party would "release" the goblin king and his small cohort of goblins that Ebiwen had just finished "healing and reforming". Bruto agreed to this after Ebiwen offered to hail his praises at Caire Fenris. And so, led by the Goblin King, the party found their way to the surface, atop a mountain that overlooked the rivers leading to the cities of the Pact. '' When the group had managed to set up a good campsite they allowed the Goblin king to leave so long as he held to Ebiwen's demands that he lead a life of good. No noises or attacks disturbed the group as they rested for the night. They set out watches and the wildlife remained at bay. ''The group awoke to Lyra screaming. Nightmares of a disturbing nature had afflicted Lyra and even Varius. Portents of a dark future and an evil mind tormented both. Elves do not sleep, and they never dream. So this was an added madness thrown in to the mix. It was quickly discovered that Ebiwen was lying unconscious on the ground, a black eye on his face, and no sign of Bruto. The course the party should set was heavily debated now. Many thought they should regroup and re-arm at Caire Fenris. Some wanted to go straight to Colebeth. Eventually the argument ended with the decision to take the longer road to Caire Landross, the dwarf city twelve hours up river. According to Svana it would be the best place to get supplies and sell off the loot they had stolen from the goblins. It would also give them a chance to get some much needed information. It took a day but the party eventually arrived at Caire Landross. There they learned a number of insightful tidbits. The "protection from Fenris" the city was using was a single barbarian named Danick who was not the brightest or the best of the Caire Fenris. There was also talk about how the head clerics, priests, and even the bishop had been called away to Caire Landross to help with the forging of awakened steel. The red flag, though, was that no one had come back from either Colebeth or Caire Fenris for at least a week, possibly longer. The inhabitants of the dwarven town seemed okay with this, though they did have a very hard time thinking of details. The only conflicts that had bothered the quiet town lately had involved goblin attacks in the mines. There was also the occasional dryder that the goblins managed to sneak in to the lower tunnels as a surprise for the dwarves. Without a standing military they would either send Danick to deal with the situation, use their cave ballistae, or just collapse a tunnel on the threat. None of the dwarves seemed to be afflicted by the dreams that had haunted Lyra or Varius. What remained in Caire Landross was a small group of miners, forgers, and families. The blacksmiths were grateful of Xain's assistance with maintenance magics. %n found himself quite popular as some of the locals started trying his flask. Varius and Lyra gathered as much info as they could. Svana and Glathkin worked the markets to get the best deals on the swag they wanted to sell off and get supplies for their follow up trip. Ebiwen was handed off to the aging cleric of Moradin who did his best to help the injured halfling. As the day came to a close the party members found themselves at the drinking hall catching each other up on information. Coin purses were dispensed and they prepared for the coming day. The decision still needed to be made of whether in the morning to travel to Caire Fenris to learn what is happening with the dwarven religious caste or Colebeth to investigate what they were contracted to investigate. Both roads were masked in signs and portents from dreams and rumors. Will this be the spike that drives our heroes apart? Or will they overcome their disagreements and venture into a decision.